Strawberry plant Nama

ABSTRACT

A new and distinct variety of strawberry (Fragaria L.) called &#34;Nama&#34; is disclosed. The variety is a cross between &#34;Chandler&#34; and &#34;232&#34;, which results in a variety that flowers several months earlier than most other known strawberry varieties.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a new and distinct variety ofstrawberry (Fragaria L.) called "Nama". The variety was developed froman organized scientifically designated breeding program carried out atthe Agricultural Research Organization, the Volcani Center, Bet Dagan,Israel. The variety is the product of selection of seedlings resultingfrom crosses between the strawberry varieties "Chandler" and "232". Thevariety was asexually vegetatively propagated through runners and thereproduction ran true.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The new variety "Nama" is able to grow in September and produce fruitstarting in November and lasting until summer. The production of fruitbeginning in November is two months earlier than classical short-daystrawberry varieties and within a similar time frame of strawberryvarieties "Shalom" (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 7,876), "Smadar" (U.S. PlantPat. No. 7,865), "Saaid" (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 870), "Dorit" (U.S. PlantPat. No. 7,869) "Sharon" (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 7,881). The fruit of the"Nama" variety is characterized by good taste, good shape and size aswell as a long shelf life.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

FIG. 1. -- Photograph of the "Nama" variety illustrating the fruit.

FIG. 2. -- Photograph of the "Nama" variety illustrating a cross-sectionof the fruit.

FIG. 3. -- Photograph of the "Nama" variety illustrating the entireplant with foliage, flowers and fruit.

DETAILED BOTANICAL DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The "Nama" variety was grown in winter under polyethylene tunnels inIsrael. "Nama" is an infra short-day strawberry variety. Infra short-dayvarieties are induced to initiate flower bud primordia in response torelatively long light regimes (but under short-day conditions) and arerelatively insensitive to night temperatures. Flowering and fruitproduction is not affected by the use of polyethylene wind tunnels. Thisproduction procedure is utilized in normal agricultural practices by theskilled artisan and does not involve temperature or light control.Mother plants were stored at 0° C. from January through April. They werethen planted in the nursery without further treatment. Runners withplantlets were produced during summer. These young plantlets werecollected from the nursery in September and transferred to raised beds.Average temperatures at that time of the year are 30° C. during the dayand 22° C. at night. Water and fertilizers were applied through dripirrigation. An example of an optimum planting date is between September5 and 15 with the approximate date of flowering on October 15 and theapproximate date of first fruiting on November 15. "Nama" flowering isnot induced by chilling, but by natural exposure to shortening daylength. Color readings described herein were taken under natural lightconditions and color identifications were made by reference to the RoyalHorticultural Society Colour Chart (RHSCC) except where common terms ofcolor definition are employed.

The pertinent characteristics of the present invention are presented inTable 1 and Table 2. Additionally, the variety "Nama" (1) has notendency toward fruit malformation; (2) disease resistance appearsnormal in that no particular problematic conditions arose during trials;and (3) the type of bearing is not remontant (e.g., "Nama" bloomsperpetuously, during late fall and winter).

The fruit is longer than broad, with first order and second order fruitpossessing different shapes (Table 2). The fruit is firm with anorange-red color (Table 2).

The variety "Nama" flowers several months earlier than known strawberyvarieties. One of the closest nown varieties is "Karina" (Table 1), andthe new varieties mentioned supra; e.g., U.S. Plant Pat. Nos. 7,881("Sharon"), 7,876 ("Shalom"), 7,865 ("Smadar"), 7,870 ("Saaid") and7,869 ("Dorit"). Additionally, early flowering results in early fruitproduction for "Nama" and the two varieties, "Virginia", subject of U.S.Plant Patent Application Ser. No. 07/823,802 filed Jan. 22, 1992; and"Ofra", subject of U.S. Plant Patent Application Ser. No. 07/823,638filed Jan. 22, 1992. Total Soluble Solids (TSS), marketable appearance,fruit color, sepal appearance, firmness, pressure defects and generalhealth are presented in Table 3 by comparison to the co-pendingvarieties as well as the short-day variety, "Douglas" (U.S. Plant Pat.No. 4,487).

                  TABLE 1                                                         ______________________________________                                        PLANT CHARACTERISTICS OF "NAMA"                                               MORPHOLOGICAL              COMPARABLE                                         TRAIT        DESCRIPTION.sup.a                                                                           VARIETY.sup.b                                      ______________________________________                                        Classification                                                                             Botanical-                                                                    Fragaria L.                                                      Plant habit  Globose       "Sengana"                                          Plant density                                                                              Medium        "Gorella"                                          Plant vigor  Strong        "Grande"                                           Leaf:                                                                         a) Length    110-160 mm                                                       b) Width     105-125 mm                                                       c) Color     Medium Green                                                     1) Upper Side:                                                                             Medium Green                                                     d) Blistering                                                                              Medium                                                           e) Cross-section                                                                           Slightly Convex                                                  f) # of leaflets                                                                           Sometimes >3                                                     Terminal leaflet                                                              a) Length/Width                                                                            Longer than broad                                                ratio                                                                         b) Shape of base                                                                           Obtuse                                                           c) Shape of teeth                                                                          Obtuse                                                           d) Length    50-65 mm                                                         e) Width     45-60 mm                                                         Flower                                                                        a) Size      Large                                                            b) Size of calyx to                                                                        Similar                                                          corolla                                                                       c) Size of inner calyx                                                                     Larger                                                           versus outer calyx                                                            d) Spacing of petals                                                                       Overlapping                                                      e) Diameter                                                                   1) First order                                                                             32 mm                                                            2) Second order                                                                            25 mm                                                            f) Petal length/width                                                                      Nearly as broad                                                               as long                                                          1) length    10-12 mm                                                         2) width     10-14 mm                                                         g) Time of flowering                                                                       Early         "Karina".sup.c                                     Petiole                                                                       a) Pose of hairs                                                                           Outwards                                                         b) Length    45-90 mm                                                         Infloresence                                                                  a) Position relative                                                                       Above                                                            to foliage                                                                    Fruiting truss:                                                                            Prostrate                                                        Attitude                                                                      ______________________________________                                         .sup.a The description of "Nama" is based on the test guidelines for          Fragaria L. of the International Union for the Protection of New Plant        Varieties, (UPOV).                                                            .sup.b Only characteristics which are relevant for comparing varieties ar     listed. For example, there are no varietal differences acknowledged in th     characteristics "color of lower side of leaf".                                .sup.c "Nama" flowers at the end of October. One of the earliest known        varieties for comparison is "Karina", which flowers in January.               Additionally, "Nama" flowers within approximately the same time range as      strawberry varieties "Shalom" (U.S. Plant Pat. 7876), "Smadar" (U.S. Plan     Pat. 7865), "Saaid" (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 7820), "Dorit" (U.S. Plant Pat.      No. 7869), "Sharon" (U.S. Plant Pat. 7881), as well as "Virginia" and         "Ofra", described in U.S. Plant Pat. Application Ser. No. 07/823,802,         filed Jan. 22, 1992, and U.S. Plant Pat. Application Ser. No. 07/823,638,     filed Jan. 22, 1992, respectively.                                       

                  TABLE 2                                                         ______________________________________                                        FRUIT CHARACTERISTICS OF "NAMA"                                               CHARACTERISTICS      DESCRIPTION                                              ______________________________________                                        Time of ripening     Early                                                    Ratio of length/maximum width                                                                      Longer than broad                                        Size                 Large                                                    First Order                                                                   a) Predominant Shape Wedged                                                   b) Length            40-50 mm                                                 c) Width             36-40 mm                                                 d) Thickness         25-32 mm                                                 e) Weight            21 g                                                     Second Order                                                                  a) Predominant Shape Conical                                                  b) Length            40-50 mm                                                 c) Width             29-34 mm                                                 d) Thickness         25-32 mm                                                 e) Weight            19 g                                                     Difference in shape between first                                                                  Marked                                                   order and second order fruit                                                  Band without achenes Narrow                                                   Unevenness of surface                                                                              Absent or very weak                                      Color                Orange-red                                               Evenness of color    Even                                                     Glossiness           Strong                                                   Insertion of achenes Below surface                                            Insertion of calyx   At level                                                 Pose of calyx segments                                                                             Clasping or free                                         Size of calyx in relation to                                                                       Larger                                                   fruit diameter                                                                Adherence of calyx   Strong                                                   Firmness             Firm                                                     Color of flesh       Orange-red                                               Evenness of flesh color                                                                            Slightly uneven                                          ______________________________________                                    

                  TABLE 3                                                         ______________________________________                                        COMPARATIVE SHELF-LIFE AND FLAVOR OF "NAMA"                                                                      Mar-                                       Percentage             Se-         ket-                                              Pres-                                                                              Firmness.sup.a                                                                           pal         able                                                    sure        New-  ap-  Fruit                                                                              ap-   Sugar                          Vari-        de-    Vis- ton   pear-                                                                              co-  pear- content                        ety  Health  fects  ual  units ance.sup.b                                                                         lor.sup.c                                                                          ance.sup.d                                                                          T.S.S..sup.e                   ______________________________________                                        First test:                                                                   at harvest date                                                               Na-  100      0       5  3.7   5    3.5  4.0   8.0                            ma                                                                            Vir- 100      0       5  4.2   5    3.5  4.0   8.5                            ginia.sup.f                                                                   Ofra.sup.g                                                                         100      0       5  6.0   5    4.0  4.5   9.6                            Douglas.sup.h                                                                 100       0       5    3.7   5    4.5  4.0   6.5                              Second test:                                                                  After 3 days of storage at 2° C.                                       Na-  78      22     3.5  3.0   4    4.0  3.7                                  ma                                                                            Vir- 80      20     3.5  3.5   4    4.2  3.8                                  ginia                                                                         Ofra 92       8     4.0  6.0   4    4.2  4.4                                  Douglas                                                                       76       24     3.7    3.5   4    5.0  3.7                                    Third test:                                                                   after 3 days storage at 2° C. plus                                     2 additional days at simulated shelf temperature of 18° C.             Na-  44      56     3.0  3.0   3.0  4.5  3.0                                  ma                                                                            Vir- 50      50     3.0  2.8   3.0  4.5  3.2                                  ginia                                                                         Ofra 55      45     3.5  5.5   3.2  4.5  3.5                                  Douglas                                                                       45       55     3.0    3.0   3.2  5.0  3.2                                    ______________________________________                                         INDEX:                                                                        .sup.a 5hard 1soft                                                            .sup.b 5green, fresh like, 1dry, brown                                        .sup.c 5dark red, 1green, pink                                                .sup.d 5prime 1not marketable                                                 .sup.e Total Soluble Solids (T.S.S.) expresses fruit sweetness and was        determined with a refractometer                                               .sup.f U.S. Plant Pat. Application Ser. No. 07/823,802 January 22, 1992       .sup.g U.S. Plant Pat. Application Ser. No. 07/823,638, January 22, 1992      .sup.h U.S. Plant Pat. No. 4,487                                         

What is claimed is:
 1. A new distinct variety of strawberry plantsubstantially as illustrated and described and distinguished as beingable to grow in September and produce fruit starting in November andlasting until summer, with fruit having a good taste and shape and along shelf life.